Wallumrød

Old-school musique concrete interludes and electronic add-ons mark the revered Ensemble’s masterly new album, which both summarises their unique career so far, and jumps boldly into the unknown.

Harpist Giovanna Pessi has previously been heard on ECM recordings with Christian Wallumrod and with Rolf Lislevand. On her first leader date for ECM she introduces a unique project of old and new songs in which 17th century pieces by Henry Purcell are interspersed with 20th century ballads of Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake and 21st century songs of Susanna Wallumrod, all rendered timeless by the ‘early music’ instrumentation and Susanna’s pure, understated vocal style.

Pianist and composer Christian Wallumrød releases a sequel to the album Pianokammer from 2015.

The recording is a follow-up to the critically-lauded 'The Zoo is Far' (2007), of which the Irish Times wrote, "Explicitly moving away from jazz with this sextet despite the presence of musicians with jazz backgrounds, including himself, Wallumrød has reduced these elements to the peripheral, seeking, above all, a through-composed ensemble music that reflects his contacts with contemporary classical, baroque, Norwegian folk and church music. It's exquisitely performed; the permutating blend of trumpet-violin/Hardanger fiddle/viola-cello-baroque harp and piano or harmonium, with rhythm, is uniquely beautiful." The new album of this uniquely original group offers a suite of 18 sophisticated miniatures some of them based on music by Domenico Scarlatti and Jean-Baptiste Lully.

NO BIRCH, by the Christian Wallumrod Trio (Import, 2008),is a beautifully realized album of atmospheric, moody, spare, gorgeous Jazz. This is the kind of music to listen to driving along a lonely stretch of road on a rainy, moody afternoon as the sun is about to set. There is a cinematic quality to the music this trio creates empoying just piano, trumpet and percussion.